Minimum Wage

Even Wal-Mart has increased the wages that their lowest-paid employees make.

So what’s stopping Illinois from passing a minimum wage?

The first myth is that increases to the minimum wage will destroy companies. According to recent studies, increasing Illinois’ minimum wage to $10/hour in one fell swoop is not a high-enough increase to cause businesses to cut workers, and would raise consumer spending by low-income families. (Manzo, 2015)

According to the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, this minimum wage would spur on the economy by:

• Increasing income up to $7 billion across all workers; and

• Generating around $180 million in new state income tax revenue.

Another myth is that only teenagers make minimum wage. With the growing Wealth Gap in Illinois and across the country, that hasn’t been the case for a long time.